


Tale of the Necromancer

by everybodyknowsme



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/F, F/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-02-24 14:59:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13216239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everybodyknowsme/pseuds/everybodyknowsme
Summary: Humans were not always able to use magic. They acquired this skill about 30 years, before nuclear bombs destroyed most civilizations. But since the Ark was in space most were unable to use magic and it became a myth.





	1. Prologue

“They are sending you down! Your instincts will tell you, to take care of the other children. You are smart, you can do it.”  
“What? the ground won’t be survivable for the next hundred years! They are killing us!”  
“They are giving you a chance!”  
Clarke wanted to protest, but a tranquilizer-dart knocked her out.

Earth was amazing. Everything had a color, everything had an own, distinguishable noise, everything had a smell, with which the air was filled and everybody felt more alive than ever on the Ark.

Clarke couldn’t deny, that she was in good mood. They were not dead, the vegetation looked healthy and out of the corner of her eye, she had been able to spot movement, that had to belong to the animals they could hear. When they had seen a deer with two heads, it was a little shock, but no disaster: While past radiation must have heightened the chances for disfiguring birth-deficits, the animal itself was likely still edible.  
Then they reached a river. Octavia had been the first one to notice it and had jumped in.  
Before someone could join her, something snake-like had swam to her grabbed her and pulled her away from the shore. When Clarke and the others rolled a boulder into the water the beast was distracted and Jasper brought her back to the shore.  
“What was that?”  
“It look like some kind of giant snake. Show me your leg.”  
When Octavia turned the wound, where the creature had grabbed her, Clarke noticed something on her hand.  
“Is that blood on your knuckles?”  
“I think? When it grabbed my I just went 'Not today' and beat at everything I could reach.”  
“That looks like the remains of an eye on your left hand! Remind me to not get into a fight with you.”, Jasper joked.  
Clarke took a look at Octavia’s leg. There was not one large wound but multiple small one, likely each one caused by a single tooth. The wild thrashing hadn’t opened them further. Clarke remembered, that snakes were unable to take bites out of their prey and instead had to swallow them whole.  
“I’m surprised, but your leg looks good. The bite is not very deep and should heal up nicely. It’s as clean as we can get it, so with a little bit of luck it should be alright.”

They decided to rest and discuss the best way to cross the river.


	2. Signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first hints, about the magic appear

Finn found a vine, that hung over the river. Jasper went first. He discovered that they were close to their destination. Then he learned, that they were not alone.  
Clarke, Monty, Octavia and Finn ran.

When they heard Jasper's screams, Monty and Clarke wanted to go back.  
“We can´t help him.”  
“We have to!”  
“Whoever threw that spear, was either behind or above us. I think that was a warning, to not enter his turf. If we go alone we´re dead. We will come back with back-up.”

Wells tried, to make order, but he was not surprised, that none of the delinquents listened to him, when he told them, to help him collect some of the rainwater.  
What they did do, was making a bonfire and torches, when the rain stopped and the sun went down.  
One of the older boys, John Murphy was out for blood.  
“I´m gonna kill you, rich boy!”  
“Your future murder-attempt would have a higher chance of success, if you would not announce them.”  
It was Bellamy Blake, that intervened:“if you want to fight, fight fair. Rich boy, do you want to trade your wristband for a knife, or do you want to rely on Murphy here, to not use his?”

Murphy didn’t want to look like a coward, so now, that a crowd had gathered around so he attacked with his empty fists. He had no training, no experience, had his last meal over one day ago and was driven by anger, that even he himself knew, was misplaced.  
Wells had seen some depictions of fights in older movies, but no actual experience, was well fed and acted in self defense.  
Wells won the brawl. The crowd quickly disbanded, but Bellamy and Murphy stayed.  
“I wasn’t joking about that wristband.”, Bellamy said after the onlookers were gone.  
Together, they held him down and pried the wristband from his arm.

Clarke, Finn, Octavia and Monty came back. Jasper was not with them and Octavia walked with a slight limp. Bellamy immediately forbid her from leaving the camp again and did not intent, to help searching for Jasper.  
“He´s probably already dead.”  
“I ran back to the river. He had been moved and was still alive. If whoever threw that spear treated his wound, he is still alive and we have to find him!”  
“Fine get yourself killed princess.”  
“I´m going to bring him back and you are going to help me.”  
“Why should I and why would I?”  
“You should, because you have a gun and have actual combat-training, and you would, because you look afraid, if you don´t.”

Clarke's whispered answer had the intended effect.  
Wells, Finn, Murphy, Bellamy and Clarke had split up into two groups, to search a way to safely cross the river. She had ordered Monty to stay behind and work on the radio and Bellamy hadn’t allowed his sister, to join them.  
Clarke had to admit, that Finn was charming, even though she found his constant lack of seriousness irritating. He had found a part, where the water was at its deepest waist-deep and proceeded, by starting a water fight.  
On the other hand, it was him, who noticed the traces, that Jasper's kidnapper had left behind.  
Jasper had been tied to a big dead tree, that stood in the middle of a clearing. Due to the size of the tree, he was only visible and easiest accessible from the side, they came from.  
Finn stopped Clarke from stepping into a pit-fall-trap, without even looking.

Jasper was fighting an infection and was screaming in pain. Even though, a spear had gone all the way through his upper body, the infection seemed to be the only thing preventing a full recovery.

They left the car, when they saw the fog clearing. Even though the red kelp might be able to battle the infection, Clarke still had little hope, that she could save Jasper. The main reason she wanted to try, was that he was still screaming.  
Then they encountered Atom. Every part of his body was covered in the blisters caused by the fog. His clothes were stained red, where the skin had broken completely and from the sound of his breathing and coughing the fog had also destroyed his lungs.  
He didn’t scream, but he was still conscious. He begged Clarke to save him.  
Even without Bellamy’s whispers, about how they couldn’t afford another charity case, Clarke knew, that he was beyond all help.  
She held his head with her right hand and it was obvious, that he had not made his peace.  
She pushed the blade forcefully into his neck, severing the nerves directly beneath the elongated spinal chord. The few seconds, the brain would remain active after the heart had stopped beating, it would not be able to process any pain from the rest of the body.

The worst about killing him, was that it made Clarke feel strong, like she had an extremely nourishing meal.  
She stood up and walked without another word past Bellamy to the dropship.

“You healed up better than I thought possible. When I gave you the new bandages, you still had a hole that went through your torso!”  
“So, is that a no?”  
“It is. Until your chest has the same shape as before you were pinned down by a spear, you will refrain from drinking moonshine or any strenuous activity.”  
“You’re no fun, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pretty much do not have drafts, so it will take some time for new chapters to appear


	3. Magic happens

Jasper's recovery was only the first miracle. Soon there was magic in the whole camp. Boys, that did not get burned when reaching for something, that fell into the fire.  
Girls, that always had the wind blowing their hair out of their faces.  
Bellamy’s unnatural ability, to make people do his bidding, without being perceived as their boss.  
Octavia, pushing away everybody he sent to watch over her with increasing strength.  
Monty, who always just had the tool he needed in his hand, without noticeably picking it up.  
Murphy, who got hung without getting injured and then just stumbled onto the bunker, they hid Charlotte in.  
And Finn who reliably found the closest deer in seconds when hunting.

It was Finn, that first spoke about it to Clarke.  
“I have to tell you something.”  
“What is it?”  
“I think we have superpowers.”  
“Oh, it's that kind of discussion. Okay, why do you think we have superpowers?”, Clarke humored him, thinking it was going to be one of those discussions that stemmed from a restless nights.  
“Do you know, how I always find something instantly, when I hunt, why I never have to really look for anybody in the Camp.”  
“You are really good at reading traces?”  
“I can see auras.”  
“That did not go in the direction I was expecting.”  
“Those with similar powers, have the same color aura. But the auras are unique, so I can easily tell who is who. Also the auras leave a spoor I can just follow, if they are out of sight.”  
“First, never use the word 'spoor' again. Second, what about me? You said 'we' had superpowers. And third, you didn't give any proof.”  
“Okay. I'm not sure about you. When I look at you, I feel like during that scene from '2001 A space Odyssey' at the end, where the astronaut sees his dying self.  
About proof: I can predict when Jasper's Luck will let him down again.”  
“How would you do that?”  
“Both him and Murphy have the same color, but while Murphy's aura just increases really slowly, Jasper's kind of inflates and deflates quickly when he's playing cards. Every time his aura goes away, he's struck with bad luck.”  
“You can predict the cards”, Clarke laughed.  
“Didn't say, he'll lose the next hand, I said he will be struck by bad luck.”  
Just as he said that, Monty came out of the dropship.  
“The radio is almost ready, do I figured you want to be there.”

“So who gets to connect the last wires?”  
They drew straws.  
Jasper was nervous.  
“Are you sure, you want to do this?”, Finn asked, genuinely worried.  
The wires sparked, an electric arc connected to Jasper, he screamed in pain, Clarke's and Finn's wristband opened.

“I think, the wristbands falsely interpreted the incoming signal, and switched off. I can't explain how Jasper got electrocuted like that. That whole thing was running on 2,5 Volt.”  
Monty was trying to salvage the radio, Octavia comforted Jasper, because he felt, like he had been the one, that fucked it up.

And Finn stormed of.  
Clarke had waited until she was sure, that Jasper had not sustained any lasting injuries. Than she followed him. As she expected, she found him in the bunker, where they tried to hide Charlotte from Murphy.  
“Why did you run off? Jasper and Monty could use your help right now?”  
“It's my fault. I should not let Jasper touch the radio, when he was due for disaster.”  
“The radio would not have worked either way. Monty will fix the mistake,...”  
“You don't get it: without the wristbands, they think we're dead. They will die before they can realize, they are wrong. And I am alone!”  
“We are not alone! You are not alone!”  
Clarke went to kiss Finn.  
He closed his eyes, then he held her back: “I have a girlfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never liked the relationship between Clarke and Finn, so I decided to deviate from the story here


	4. Hard landing

Finn hurried out of the bunker and threw up. Clarke stood for a few seconds as she heard him. Then she went after him.  
“Are you all right?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Because you just threw up and since I'm in charge of health, I really would like to know why. What did you eat?”  
“It's nothing.”  
“...”  
“It's ridiculous.”  
“Did I give you the cooties?”, Clarke teased.  
Finn sighted.  
“You remember, what I said about your aura?”  
“That I look like your future?”  
“I did not want to say it, but when I closed my eyes and only saw your aura I saw death. Like I felt, like I was about to kiss a corpse. Before the acid fog, I could barely see it, and it's still weak, but when we're close all my instincts tell me to run.”  
“Wow, rude!”, Clarke tried to laugh, but Finn looked, as if he wanted to flee from her.  
“Why are so close to me then?”  
“Because you are nice, smart and good-looking. I do not want to act, following some instincts.”  
“Thank you. You mean, if it wasn't for my aura, you would have kissed me?”  
“Probably more, than just kiss you”, he smiled.  
“Your 'girlfriend' wouldn't have liked that.” Clarke meant it as a joke.  
“Yes, considering, she's the most likely person, to come here, it's really for the better.”  
“You actually HAVE a girlfriend? And you only remembered, because I'm repulsive, when you close your eyes?”  
“I thought, I'd never see her again...”  
“...”  
“...”  
“What's she like?”  
“Her name is Raven Reyes. She is the best zero-G-mechanic on the arc.”  
“Of course she is.”  
“No for real, like she had a pert score on all her exams and Sinclair vetoed the decision of the medical exam, because he didn't want to 'waste her talent indoors'.  
She loves to be out. She gets frequently shouted at, for staying much longer than she needs to. But they would never actually do anything about it. She's not wasting any resources and she does her assigned work faster and better than anybody else could.  
I'm not sure, how you two will get along. She tends to act recklessly, I'm kind of a bad influence.  
And she loves me.  
Thinking about it, I have no idea, why I thought, she would die up there. As soon as she realizes, I'm not in my cell, she will hack every computer on the arc, until she knows, that I'm here, and than she will come here.”  
“She'll just jump down? The dropships take forever, to prepare for launch, and are well guarded.”  
“A few kilometers of atmosphere are not going to stop her!”  
Right on cue, a light soared over their heads.  
“That's not a comet.”  
“No, that is a lander!”  
They ran back to the camp.  
“It's Raven!”  
“No, that's my mum!”  
“Wanna bet?”  
“If I win, you have to tell my mum about auras! The way she'll mock you will be the funniest thing I've heard in the last two years.”  
“Okay but if it's Raven, you have to tell her about the magic!”  
“Why?”  
“Because you don't believe in it and can't use it! It'll be hilarious!”

The whole camp had seen the object and Bellamy was already organizing the resulting chaos.  
“Judging by the size, that is most likely a supply-drop. It's to far away, to search it now. if we got it, it would be to dark and we couldn't carry it all at once. We will tomorrow morning, before dawn. What we can do today, is make sure, we are prepared: See if we have backpacks, pack rations for the day, talk out who stays behind, to guard the camp, make sure, the weapons are in good shape,... go I can't do everything for you!”  
The camp got busy. The self-proclaimed guards began drawing straws, to determine, who would have to guard the camp and who got to escort the others, that would carry the supplies.  
Others produced backpacks, either from their tents, or by making them from branches and strips of rope.  
Clarke, Finn, Monty and Jasper started charting the best route to the likely landing zone on the map.

“Where is Bellamy?”, Clarke was not surprised, that she could see neither of the Blakes. Octavia had likely not even noticed the lander yet, running through the woods again.

But Bellamy was could already see the object. It was an escape-pod, not a supply-drop.  
He opened it. The pilot was wearing a spacesuit, a hole in the visor.  
A radio was firmly fixed to the fittings. It was endlessly repeating a woman asking for a response.  
He pried it out of it's socket and cut the ropes, that connected it to the pilots wrist.  
Time to get rid of it.

Finn and Clarke found the opened pod. The pilot was moving. She must have hit her head pretty hard, as there was a hole in her helmet. She removed it.

“Raven!”  
“Finn!”  
They hugged each other.  
“Raven, this is Clarke, she's the closest we have to a doctor here, she should probably take a look at your head.”  
She put it of with a hand wave. “Clarke as in Clarke Griffin, as in your mother is Abby Griffin?”  
“You know her?”  
“Know her? This”, she gestured at the pod,” was her idea.”  
Clarke and Finn exchanged glances.  
“Fine. Finn and I bet, who would come first,...”  
“Hey!”  
“You didn't say, I couldn't tell her that first.”  
Raven had turned back to the pod and was searching for something. A gesture indicated Clarke to continue.  
“He believes, that we all have magic, because some of the people in the camp can do things, he can't, and Jasper had really bad luck. He claims he can see 'auras', and yada yada.”  
“Those auras don't tell happen to tell you, where the radio went?”  
Raven turned around, her face completely serious.  
Finn closed his eyes and pointed in Bellamy’s direction.  
Than Raven's eyes started to shine, not yellow, like those of a cat, but white with a hue of blue, like a bright star.  
“We need that to call the arc” she said and flew in the pointed direction.  
As the trees bend out of her way, Clarke and Finn stared in awe after her.  
“Did you know, she can fly?”  
“No idea.”  
They heard Bellamy scream; Raven had found him.

“Where is the radio?”  
“What are you talking about?”  
Raven hit him.  
“They are about to kill 300 civilians to save oxygen. You have three seconds.”  
He pointed on the ground. He had dropped it, when she had barreled into him.

“I should have gone slower. I broke it and need some spare parts.”  
“Can you salvage them from the dropship or your pod?”, Clarke asked.  
“Not in time. You don't happen to have a smaller hand held device, like a remote lying around?”  
“Actually, we do, but it's quite a way”, Finn said.  
“How long would you need, to strip the parts from the dropship?”, Clarke wanted to know. ”We do whatever gets the message up the fastest.”  
“Strip! A Beacon! We only need them to know, you're alive. There are magnesium parts in both the dropship and the pod. I can rip them out in seconds. If we blow them up at a high enough altitude, that's visible from space!”  
She already started tearing things from the pod.  
“I can get enough propellant, an ignition and containers from here.”  
Bellamy went back to the dropship, to instruct Monty and Jasper, to scrap for magnesium and send people to Raven, to help carry everything that could be useful.

Only a few minutes later, they had constructed make-shift rockets. To get them going they had to build catapults, the exhaust flames would have scorched half the camp, if they had ignited them on the ground.  
It was good, that Raven had made multiple rockets. One was a complete blind. It flew as far as the y threw and fell like a stone.  
Another flew exactly like it was supposed to, but did not explode.  
A few rose unstable, to say the least.  
But enough exploded in high altitude.

Octavia had run away from the camp again. When she had seen an object falling from the sky, she changed her course. Whatever it was, she would either run or her brother, who wanted to investigate it, if she came to close to it.  
It was getting darker, she decided to go back, it would take her over one hour. It would be dark and Bellamy would yell at her, but she had enjoyed exploring the forest. She had eaten a rabbit, she had hunted, she had memorized a large area and would update the map, when she came back.  
Then she saw, and heard, the firework. What the hell were they thinking? Not only was that a dead giveaway to their position, It also brought a high risk of a forest fire. Taking wind into account that could easily kill them all.  
She turn to run directly towards the camp. In the darkness, she could barely see the trees, before crashing into them. Her reflexes were fast, she avoided collision.  
Octavia knew where she was. She knew, that she was approaching a ravine, steep but not broad.  
It should be around 6m. At her current speed, slowing down to climb would take time.  
Jumping it was.  
She increased her speed and when she saw the ground ending, she pushed.  
She flew through the darkness. She braced, to land against the other side of the ravine. She still had no contact to the ground, when she hit a tree.


	5. Enhanced interrogation techniques

Octavia woke up in pain. There was some kind of bandaging over her nose and she felt countless scrapes all over her body. She tried to stand up and her leg gave way. She assumed, she had sprained her ankle, no broken bone.  
She was not alone; the man that had treated her nose came into the room. He carried a bowl with unknown content, a few sticks and some leather strips, likely to make a splint.  
He held the bowl out to her without a word. She couldn't see, what was in there and turned her face away. He dropped the sticks and held her nose shut. She was forced to drink it and could taste salt. Maybe it was soup. She began losing her consciousness. Maybe not only soup.

She woke up again. The pain was mostly gone, her ankle was in a splint. The grounder was gone and she didn't want to stay. Standing was still painful and unassisted it would probably hinder her recovery. She found a stick, she used as a crutch.  
The entrance of the cave, she had woken up in, had a robust, locked door. She would have run into the grounder, pretty soon, if she had left there anyway, so Octavia didn't bother to try and force it open. Instead, she noticed a wall with bricks. Why would there by bricks in a cave. Because behind the bricks was a hole, through which small creatures could enter the cave. And through which she left.  
It was already daytime. She heard noises; her brother. She hobbled towards them and saw the search-party under attack from the grounders. She wanted to throw a stone, to divert their attention, when a man pulled her behind a tree. She knew, it was the same one, that had treated her wounds. He had not turned her around, so now she could see, another grounder, running just by the point, she had stood a moment ago. If she had thrown the stone, she would have been killed a second later.  
She let herself be carried back to the cave. Upon entering she spoke up:” That's my brother, he is here for me! You have to help him!”  
The man did not answer. He just tied her hands to a rock pillar near the wall. Then he held a vial out to her.  
She emptied it into her mouth, but took care, to swallow as little as possible, so she would wake up earlier, than he expected.  
She opened her eyes and he was not there. She placed her healthy foot at the bottom of the pillar and strained against it and the rope. Pulled alternately with her right and left arm to grate the rope against the stone. A horn was blown.  
She did not know what exactly it meant, but she considered it likely, that he would come back soon.  
She strained with all her strength and the rope just ripped, even thought it had been quite thick.  
She fell over. As she stood up, she could hear the door moving, so she decided, to lie down, where she had been bound and pretend, she was still unconscious.  
The grounder came over, to check on her and she attacked. His head had been close to hers, so when she pushed herself up, she head-butted him. He must not have seen it coming, as he fell over backwards immediately. She followed, and went to choke him, when she realized, he was completely limp. So instead, she used the rests of the rope, to tie his hands and feet together.  
Then Jasper, Finn and her brother came in.

They dragged the grounder with them to the dropship, where Bellamy’s men tied him to a wall.  
“Why did you bring him here?”  
“The earth is nothing, like we were taught. If we want to survive, we need his knowledge.”  
“You think he'll just tell you, what you want to know?”  
“That's why I'm talking to you about this. If he dies, he can't talk. You have to keep him alive, while we interrogate him.”  
“You mean torture. I won't help you with that!”  
“I don't want you to, hurt him. But unless you want to let him die, you will help.”

Octavia had not wanted to capture the grounder. She had tied him up, so she would have a bigger head start, when he woke up. So now she did not want to enter the room, where he was tied to a wall.  
Bellamy just sat in front of him and stared at him. He had been doing so in the last ten minutes.  
“I know, that you speak English”, he held up a journal,”Most of it is in a different language, but” he flipped it to a certain page,”'We need to call our parents'? Clarke said that, but she never used those words. You understood the general meaning, but not what she was talking about. I'm certain you have questions, but mine are more pressing, so how about this: you help us; Tell us what's up with this acid-fog, what food-sources are available in winter, what conditions we have to expect and how to deal with them, where your people live; and I will all of your questions and let you go.”  
The whole time, his eyes had been trained not on him, but followed something, only he saw outside the dropship.

Clarke came in.  
“So you decided to help me.”  
“I decided nothing. I want to check, if he is physically able, to answer you. A hit to the head, that can knock a man out for minutes can cause serious brain damage.”  
She took a lamp and shone it at one of his eyes, to test for pupil dilation. He turned his head away and closed the eye. When Clarke went to hold his eyelid in place, he flinched away and Bellamy smiled. He had found something to pressure the grounder.

Miller reported and it was exactly as Bellamy had predicted. Time to for enhanced interrogation techniques.  
“You know, if you would cooperate, I could trust my sister, to guard you alone. But right now, I have to assume, you would try to attack her and hold her hostage or kidnap her again.  
Now, if I was just holding you prisoner, for no specific reason, then that would be all I have to say. But I am not. I'm holding you captive, because you have information I need. I offered you a way out and it didn't work so now, I'm threatening you.”  
He punched his nose.  
“You already met our healer Clarke. I think she should take a look at that. You are bleeding and could catch an infection.”  
The grounder's face turned, from Octavia, who had been pacing up and down the length of the wall, to search for Clarke to find her trying to make threads from different plants.  
If somebody had asked Bellamy, why he had stared at the grounder for minutes on end, without speaking, he would have said, something about intimidation but the truth had been, that he had had no idea, how to interrogate this man. Judging by what little he knew, his prisoner would withstand much more torture than he was willing to apply.  
Good old carrot and stick.  
“Now, Raven was able to build a radio, so I will figure out, what to do about that. If you decide to talk, while I'm gone, just ask for Miller.”

Dax had followed them to the bunker. Even when high on nuts, it was easy to figure out what had happened. Whoever had wanted Bellamy to kill Jaha had send him to tie up a loose end. It was disputable, whether Dax being an idiot was a good thing. On one side, he had not thought about faking Bellamy’s death. On the other side, he had no idea, how knocking somebody unconscious works. And so he hit Clarke's shoulder with the but of a rifle. That she fell unconscious was due to the nuts.  
When she caught up to him, Bellamy was still tripping.  
She pressed the trigger for a single shot and a piece of bark flew from a tree. She advanced as Dax turned around, missing a few more shots.  
“Hey!”, Bellamy shouted, pointing an empty hand at him.  
Clarke was nearly in striking range and pulled the trigger. It clicked.  
Dax fell over dead.  
They stared at each other.  
“So Finn isn't the only one, who can do something useful with this magic.”  
“You are high.”  
“I was, but it wore off.”  
“You just tried to shoot Dax with an imaginary gun.”  
“Let's get you back to camp.”

Finn and Raven were among the few, that had not eaten from the nuts. They did their best, to prevent the other delinquents from hurting themselves or destroying their stuff.  
Then he noticed the grounder. Octavia had untied him and he was fleeing.  
He was not looking where he was going, instead staring in the direction Bellamy, Clarke and later Dax had left his field of perception.  
Finn suspected, that the grounder had somehow trained his ability, to see further than he could.  
“What do you see?”  
To his surprise, he answered.  
“Her”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will contain a LOT of exposition, that i don't know how else to include in the work, like how the magic works, why Lincoln and Finn can't stand the sight of Clarke, or why we don't see magic beeing used all the time.  
> in terms of plot, i will set up the arc coming down and the first meeting of Clarke and Anya. Feel free to skip.


	6. Important teachings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> contrary to the title, this chapter is not very important to the narrative, but instead contains a metric tonne of exposition. You will probably be able to understand, what's going on, even if you skip this chapter, but it should explain how the magic happens.

“When are you going to teach me about magic?”  
Lincoln laughed:” There's no such thing as magic.”  
Octavia smiled back, took a step back and laid her hands on his hips.  
Then her smile was gone and she held him with outstretched arms in the air.  
“This should not be possible. I don't weigh half as much as you do. Even if I was strong enough to pick you up, I should just fall over. And you are barely surprised.”  
“Okay, I will tell you about magic. Please let me down.”  
When they were on even ground again he readjusted his trousers.  
“What do you want to know?”  
“Everything! Why does magic only show up now? How does it work? Why didn't you want me to learn about it? And what's with Clarke, that Bellamy could threaten you with her presence?”  
“Okay, most of those, can be answered at the same time. Imagine your magic as water. Using magic means to drink the water. Now you only drink water from a cup. The bigger the cup, the more water you can drink at once, before you have to refill it at your bucket.  
Again, the bigger your bucket is, the better you can refill your cup.  
When the bucket is empty, you have to go to the spring to refill it.  
People are born without a cup, but can inherit a bucket.  
So when you came to earth, you were for the first time able to use magic, because you could enlarge the cup.”  
“How? What did we do, that 'enlarged our cups'?”  
“That's complicated. You see, everyone is born with one kind of magic. What I just described applies to most of them. Depending on what kind of magic, you have to different things, to increase your magic potential. Berserkers like you increase their magical strength by experiencing freedom or letting loose their emotions. Seers like me do that by finding things, that don't want to be seen.  
In general to cast stronger magic, you first need to do, what it's good for, without using it.”  
“What about Raven? She could use her magic, as soon as ship stepped out of her pod.”  
“Raven is, what we call a star-child, very rare. Her power comes solely from the stars. As long as she can see the stars she can wield enormous power. In your home among the stars, she must have felt like a goddess.”  
“Thank you. But why didn't you start my training with this, as a motivation, and tried to lie to my about magic?”  
“Because using magic comes at a price. Imagine there was a drug in the water. Magic will try to bend you towards itself.  
Berserkers become so emotional, that they are barely more than animals. Pyromancers must see everything burning. Telekinetics live to lift and throw everything they can find.  
Because of this, most warriors will only use their power in emergencies.”  
Octavia stayed quiet for some time, to think about what she had learned.  
“And why are you afraid of Clarke? I'm sure it has to do with magic, because Finn can't look at her either, and I was sure he would throw himself at her.”  
“She must never find out about her magic. The only reasons, I can forgive myself, that I didn't already murder her are her ignorance towards her power and her general peacefulness.”  
“What? You would murder her because of her power?”  
“Yes. I will explain myself, if you promise, to never tell her!”  
He was completely serious.  
“Okay, I promise. Now tell me, why you would murder my friends.”  
“Only her. She is a necromancer.”  
“So she can summon skeletons. Why is this such a big deal?”  
“No she can't 'summon skeletons'. Her power grants her dominion over death. That's how she could save Jasper after she mercy-killed Atom. He was on the brink of death and she pushed him towards life.”  
“That sounds like a good thing?”  
“That she used her power to help is the reason, I didn't kill her then and there. The important difference between necromancy and other forms of magic is, that necromancy feeds on itself.  
It's main use is to take lives and doing so strengthens Clarke's ability to do so. And I am not just talking about humans: animals don't do as much as humans and she probably doesn't even notice plants. I could see her killing the boy, that tried to kill her with a thought.”  
“Okay, a murder-addicted girl, that can kill with a thought, sure sounds bad enough to warrant preemptive murder.”  
“It's worse: If we only had to worry about her ability to kill, we could still sneak up to her or kill her in her sleep. But when her power grows, so does her sight. She will learn to see life-force to prey on, and necromancers can sense lethal intent.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“You can't hide from a strong necromancer and he can tell, whether somebody wants to kill somebody. If you tried to kill him, his senses would wake him and you would be dead, before you even found him. If Clarke would reach this point, it would be impossible for us, to kill her, even if your entire camp tried to help us.  
Only a soulless could kill her then and even their success would not be guarantied.”  
Octavia just stared at him. The thought, that someone had such authority, that everyone they wanted to be dead just died and the mere thought of resistance could get you killed, even if it was Clarke was scary.  
Lincoln continued:” Soulless are detached from magic. I can't see their aura, you can only hit them as hard, as your muscles allow you to. They can approach even strong necromancers. But if their enemy notices them they might still command the dead.”  
“I thought, that they can't summon skeletons?”  
“I am not talking about corpses. When a necromancer commands the dead, they bring back everything they want. I mean an undead monster, that has all the skills, it had, when it was still alive. It does not worry about its mind and uses magic as its master pleases.”  
“How do you know all that.”  
“Because it happened before. That is, why aura-seers go around and murder every child, that is born with this power.”  
“Can we please change the subject. I want to go back to training.”  
“How about, I tell you more about your power now?”  
“Please.”  
“You are a berserker. Your power stems from your feelings of freedom.”  
“You mean, if I had not been imprisoned my entire life, I could have used magic back on the arc?”  
“No. Your power is not about actual freedom. It's about the feeling of freedom. I think everybody on the arc felt imprisoned, so they were never able to use their power. But now, that you are on earth, yours will probably keep growing, until you experience something, that will stop you from feeling free.  
To use your power, you have to use your feelings: fear will make you run faster, anger will make you strike harder. The more personally attached to what you are doing you are, the more your power can help you, but also the more you are at risk of getting lost in your feelings.”  
“When you first picked me up. I could not imagine staying in here, for no other reason, than that you brought me here. I mean sure, you locked me in, but looking back, that was for my safety, it was dumb luck, that you found me again, before I could get myself killed. But even after I saw that, I could not bear the thought of being forced to stay in here.”  
“You were kidnapped by a stranger...”  
“No! I mean yes, but I spent the first 16 years of my live in a room that was not even half as big as the cave. Whenever somebody came, I had to hide beneath the floor. Then I left that room for a few minutes and am promptly locked into an even smaller one, with the prospect of being executed in two years. Then on earth Bellamy helicoptered over me and punished his men for letting me leave the camp. What I'm trying to say is, imprisonment shouldn't have bothered me. I was used to it. I got angry about it. But these were the first two times, where I didn't even think about staying inside.”  
“You think, that your magic has already changed you?”  
“Not much, I think, I would have tried to escape anyway, but essentially yes!”  
“Then you understand, why I did not want you to use it.”  
“That is, why I have to tell my people what I know! Do you think, they would moderate their magic use, when they knew nothing about it? If they don't learn about it, they turn into a bunch of maniacs and attempt to destroy everything they can find. Your people probably know how to handle one of this kind, but a hundred at a once? The could destroy entire villages before they could be stopped!”  
Lincoln paled, when he realized, she was right.  
“But what are you going to tell them, how you know this? It's not like they would just believe you anything.”  
“Write a diary.”  
“What? Your brother already saw my diary, it's in trigedasleng.”  
“No, that's your report about us. You obviously don't want us to be able to read it.  
But I could find your reports on the civilians and you would obviously write those in a language, that they can't read.”  
Lincoln began to understand.  
“And conveniently everything, you need to know became relevant in TonDC recently.”  
“Maybe take care not to give away any actual locations, in case my brother wants to read it for himself.”  
“Wait, you won't just give it to him?”  
“No, you'll need time, to actually write it. I will say, that I broke in and read it here. That way, I can always say, that I had no opportunity to copy the pages or steal the book, when anybody wants to see it for himself.”  
“You are a smart girl. But what if he wants to join you?”  
“There is a problem there. I can say, that he is not sneaky enough, but if he wants Finn to follow me, he will see us, right?”  
“Finn is not necessary a problem.” He gave her a vial with dried herbs.  
“If you eat these, they will dampen your aura. You will not be able to use magic and feel cold and numb. Say he can't join you, because I would see HIM and you had barely enough for yourself. The heavier someone is, the more medicine they require, it's obviously not enough for one of them.”


	7. sparks and tinderboxes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now with 10% less exposition.  
> Comment, what you want next. I'm kind of writing all at once currently.

The plan didn't work as intended. The only one, that paid enough attention, to learn anything, was Finn.

Octavia was dressing up again, when Lincoln's eyes went wide: “He followed you here!”  
“What? But you would have seen him, or not?”  
“Not if he followed your traces and kept his distance.”  
“Okay, I should go!”  
“To late. He already saw us together. If you run, he'll probably report what he saw.”

“Like I thought, those diaries were made up.”  
“So what will you do now?”  
“Put what I learned to good use. You speak English, so do your people. You do not want us to die. Your people are civilized. So we can make a peace treaty.”  
“A peace treaty?”  
“Something to prevent, that the next time one of us gets lost in the woods, we don't end up killing each other.”  
“I can't give you that.”  
“But you can arrange a meeting with someone who can.”  
“Clarke would need to represent you.”  
“Can your leader see her aura?”  
Lincoln thought for a moment about omitting this important information to his superior. He was the only aura-seer under her command, so it was definitely possible. As long as Clarke killed nobody.

 

Clarke was fairly nervous. Within minutes, Finn had confirmed to her, that magic was real, upset her by refusing to talk about her magic and told her to represent all of them, including their parents, in peace-negotiations. Next thing she knew, she was waiting on an old bridge, Bellamy and a small number as back-up.

Even before the leader was on the bridge, Clarke felt the hostility.  
“I hope, you came, because have something to gain from peace”, she opened.  
“Why else would I be here?”, the woman answered with a smirk.  
“You could have come, to ambush me. But I want to believe, that you at the very least have to tell me something, before you kill me. I am Clarke Griffin, what can I call you?”  
“I know your name. I came, because I am curious, what you have to offer.”  
“Anya!”, Lincoln protested, but Clarke motioned him, to not defend her.  
“I do not know, what Lincoln told you, but we kids are not all of our people. We have parents. Over 2000, they are coming and they are armed. I have no doubt, that you could kill the hundred of us, with little effort, but if you have to fight them, you will suffer unnecessary losses. Hell, if nobody tells them about magic, they might accidentally burn down the woods for hundreds of miles around.  
Yes, you might not need the peace with us as much as I do, but a war could destroy your way of life.”  
“You are threatening me, because you don't know, how to finish, what you started.”  
“What? I did not start the conflict between us.”  
“It was not starting conflict, when your missiles burned one of our villages to the ground? It was not starting conflict, when an armed group crossed our border and abducted one of our men? But my men defending the borders was?”  
Clarke was stopped, when she realized that Anya was talking about the flares.  
“I admit, that it was our fault. But it was not our intention. It only goes to show, that we need to work together. If we had an agreement back then, we would have tried to prevent the fire, or helped put it out. Imagine if our parents try to contact us with loud sirens, so now you can no longer hear your fog horns? When they come down, they will do that in huge fireballs. Don't you want them to do so as far away from your towns as possible? I am sure, that even if we cannot be friends, we can coexist peacefully.”  
“So I agree to a treaty and let you live, than your parents come down. What guaranty do we have, that they will honor it?”  
“When they find us fighting or dead, the chances of peace are minimal. But my mother is one of our leaders. When I tell her to respect the treaty, she will.”  
Anya seemed to consider, but the hair on Clarke's neck stood up. She had been aware of Anya's hidden guards. But now her own became active.  
It took her to long, to realize what her feeling was telling her, and Jasper opened fire.  
When before she felt Anya getting more agreeable, she now felt her aggression surge back up, higher than it was at the beginning of the meeting.  
She dodged the dagger, before she saw Anya's arm move, and ran. The negotiations had failed.

“Why did you shoot, Jasper?”, Clarke asked, as soon as they were back at the dropship.  
“You should have come alone! Those were the conditions we had set” Finn accused her.  
“Maybe you missed, how he saved your lives! Had it not been for Jasper, those archers in the trees would have killed you, before we would have known, that they were there.”  
“I did not ask you, Bellamy. But why did you think I brought you along in the first place? The conditions called for no weapons on the bridge, so naturally she would bring back-up. What I want to know is, why did you shoot, when Anya had not yet given any signal to attack? Are you aware, that before the bombs, that would have been a war-crime?”  
“I just,...” Jasper started timidly, “I saw them, and I thought they were going to shoot, and...”  
“And so you went for a preemptive strike. Your always smarter in hindsight, now we have to assume, that they will retaliate. What do we know, what can we do, to up our defenses?”, Bellamy said, cutting the accusations going around short.  
Raven opened her mouth first: “It looks bad. We know nothing about magical warfare and we are badly supplied in terms of traditional warfare. Depending on how much time we have, Jasper, Monty and I could make mines, manure-bombs and other traps, but that's not gonna stop an army. The only real fortifications available are the wall and the dropship itself.”  
“We might have enough time,” Octavia said. She must have been eavesdropping and now entered.  
“Lincoln was the only grounder, that knew where we were. They can narrow our position down to a few square-kilometers, due to that rescue-attempt and the flares, but they have to search for us none the less. What we have to do, is patrol in a wide perimeter and take out any scouts we find, to delay their attack and reduce their numbers. Lincoln told me, he is their only aura-seer, since their other one got lost.”  
“What?”  
“He didn't want to talk about it.”  
“What are the chances, that they won't attack Lincoln or one of us on sight?” Finn had not given up hope.  
“I had a hunch on the bridge, that we blew it. I think Octavia's strategy is solid, and...” Clarke was distracted by a commotion outside the dropship.  
They went outside, to see something fall from the sky.  
“I thought they were coming tomorrow,” Raven wondered.  
“Maybe it has to do with us losing contact?” Clarke speculated.  
“I hope, I'm just imagining it, but shouldn't it be much slower, by now?,” Jasper commented uneasily.  
“It's not, like we could see the parachutes at night, but they certainly should have been deployed by now.” As if to underline Raven's words, the dropship landed with an groundshaking impact.


End file.
